Ex-HR Director for Orland Fire Protection District Files Lawsuit

The former human resources director for the Orland Fire Protection District, Joanne Chavez-Buchanan, has filed a lawsuit against the district and the board president. The board president is James Hickey. The lawsuit was filed this week as a result of Buchanan’s firing on June 15.

The lawsuit was filed on Monday in United States District Court of Chicago, Buchanan alleges that her termination occurred as retaliation for “speaking out against the practice of politically motivated and patronage hiring within the OFPD,” according to her attorney, Martin Dolan.

“This is a person who spent 26 years as a human resources professional,” Dolan said, according to triblocal.com. “When she was hired, she was not politically connected. She followed the proper procedures as far as hiring and doing the right thing. But she succumbed to political motivation and political hiring by the board.”

The attorney for the Orland Fire Protection District, James Roche, called the lawsuit frivolous and said that her firing was a result of her performance on the job. It is alleged in the lawsuit that in May, Buchanan received four applications for a summer internship program. She was asked to add three additional names to the list, including three students 18 years of age or younger. This was a practice not done in previous years.

On June 1, Buchanan objected to the hiring of those people along with the pending hiring of a new receptionist. She objected to the hirings because she thought they were politically motivated. She also believes that the district was not following normal hiring procedures and standards.

The lawsuit calls for one count of deprivation of civil rights, one count of common law retaliatory discharge and one count of the violation of the Local Government Employees Political Rights Act.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was originally told by Buchanan that she was fired because she is a Mexican-American, and that it was dismissed.

“It’s frivolous and without grounds,” Roche said. “She totally changed what she said under oath to the EEOC was the grounds for discharge. Now she’s telling a different story. If she expects to get money from the district, we intend to fight it full strength, full battle.”

Roche claims that Buchanan was fired because of poor performance and in August, the Orland Fire Protection District filed a lawsuit against Buchanan in the Cook County Court. That lawsuit was dismissed earlier in December, but the complaint in that lawsuit could possibly be reinstated in January.

“On two occasions, she never responded to the requests,” Roche said. “That jeopardizes us because it’s a violation of the law.’’

When Buchanan was fired, a spokesman for the Orland Fire Protection District said that the three interns never became an issue. It was understood by Roche that the internships were posted in high schools throughout the area.